Invisible Man goes to work in the Liberty Paint factory. He tells Mr. MacDuffy, the boss, that Emerson sent him (a lie.) MacDuffy sends him to work for Kimbro, where the narrator dopes cans of paint from a batch that has gone bad. When he runs out of the dope, he goes to get more, but accidentally takes paint thinner that looks and smells identical to the dope. Invisible Man gets in trouble for ruining several cans of paint with the thinner, so he is allowed to finish the work and then is transferred.

Invisible Man is transferred to work in the engine room with an old man named Lucius Brockway, who has worked there since the plant was built. Invisible Man reads gauges for a while, then goes to get his lunch from the locker room.

When Invisible Man walks into the locker room, he interrupts a union meeting. The members want to kick him out of the room and accuse him of being a fink. He tells them that he works for Brockway and they become even angrier. After arguing amongst themselves, they decide, without asking Invisible Man's opinion, that he should be allowed a trial period to test if he is a fink. He is then allowed to get his lunch and return to the engine room.

When Invisible Man returns to the engine room, Brockway asks him where he has been. Invisible Man tells Brockway, and Brockway becomes very angry and threatens Invisible Man's life. The two get into a fight that the narrator wins, and they decide to talk. At that moment, the gauge that they are not watching indicates that the pipe is about to explode. Invisible Man cannot fix the pipe, and it explodes.

Mr. MacDuffy - Invisible Man's boss at the paint plant who assigns him to his two jobs.

Mr. Kimbro - Invisible Man's first supervisor at the paint plant, who shows him how to mix the dope with the paint.

Lucius Brockway - The old man, who is Invisible Man's second supervisor. He is staunchly anti-union and is the only one who knows the secret to creating the paint. Because of this, no one in management is able to fire him.

The Factory - The factory seems to be a microcosm for America. It has all aspects of life within it, from work to a hospital. Invisible Man even describes it as a small city. The name Liberty Paint puts a facade of freedom on the factory, yet those inside are nearly enslaved with work, much like America of the time. The factory also has social classes: the management, the union workers, and those opposed to unions.

The Paint - The paint is reputed to be able to cover up anything, even coal, with a very pure white. This is similar to the America's standards. If anything is decaying, ugly, or otherwise unpleasant, we cover it up with a similar white paint. Ellison is trying to point out the pure white facade that we put on our entire society.

Whiteness - Whiteness is seen twice, both times pertaining to the paint.

The batch of paint that Invisible Man had to dope was originally too weak to be sold. To remedy this, Invisible Man had to put some sort of dope in it. The dope was a deep black color. When stirred into the paint, the dope made it a glossy white color that was the whitest that anyone could buy. This is a symbol of the reliance of whites on blacks, and the fact that whites need blacks to achieve greatness.

Whiteness is also seen in the samples that Invisible Man painted. He noted that they were not the pure white that they had originally been. They were more grey, symbolizing the fact that the purest whites have an ugly side.

Machines - Invisible Man works in the engine room where he is surrounded by heat and pressurized pipes. The machines here must be constantly monitored, especially the one that keeps making trouble. In the end, Invisible Man turns his back on the machine for too long, and the machine explodes.

Lights - When the machine blows up, Invisible Man experiences a blinding light, connecting the motif of machines with that of light.

Building one - Building one is a huge building that is described as a small town. Within it are rows and rows of paint cans stacked in enormous pyramids. The significance of this section is described in the symbols section.

Building two - This is the engine room. It is filled with pressurized pipes and gauges. It is very hot, and blue flames come out of pipes occasionally. This is the place where the paint is actually made. It is almost like hell. It is deep underground, dark, and hot, with a dark disagreeable man.

"White! It's the purest white that can be found. Nobody makes a paint any whiter. This batch right here is heading for a national monument!" (202)

This is symbolic of how our country searched to cover its true self with the purest white it could find and ignore the black that was also a part of our nation.

"They got all this machinery, but that ain't everything; we are the machines inside the machine" (217).

This is a basically a summary of the machine motif. It says that the poor black workers are the ones that allow everything to run as it does.

"If you're white, you're right" (218).

This quotation is representative of the black view of the white society of the time.

Disintegration - the pure white paint slowly becomes grey when it dries.

Cover-up - the idea of paint, which is ultimately only designed to cover.

Patriotism - the pride that the company takes in being a government supplier.

Prejudice - the management is all white while the workers are all black.

Hopelessness - Invisible Man is unable to make a decision that would keep him from trouble when talking to Mr. Kimbro.

Humanity/equality - the labor union's accepting another "brother."

Betrayal - Brockway attacks the narrator after befriending him.

Violence - Brockway attacks the narrator.

Power - Mr. Kimbro's being referred to as "Colonel."

Flight - Invisible Man's running from the machine that is going to explode.

Blindness - the blinding light from the explosion.

Mistaken identity - the union believes that Invisible Man is a fink.

Other Chapters

Prologue| Chapter 1| Chapter 2| Chapter 3| Chapter 4| Chapter 5| Chapter 6| Chapter 7| Chapter 8| Chapter 9| Chapter 10| Chapter 11| Chapter 12| Chapter 13| Chapter 14| Chapter 15| Chapter 16| Chapter 17| Chapter 18| Chapter 19| Chapter 20| Chapter 21| Chapter 22| Chapter 23| Chapter 24| Chapter 25| Epilogue